Tannhäuser

PRESS NOTICES GOLDEN OPINIONS FROM ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE "A windbag foaming at the mouth." " How rich and melodious are many of his poems, besides being full of powerful and original thought." " Exquisite stanzas . . . many faults." " Remarkable mastery of form." "Nearly akin to verbiage ... he has imagination and not infrequently the poet's touch."" Intense spirituality . . . technical superiorities ... an utterance at once mysterious and vivid ... an impressive and original voice . . . fiery and clear measured and easy of phrasing." " Always melodiously . . . sometimes nonsensically." "A sinister rival to the mutoscope." "Self-revelation of an intensely p.issionate nature, expressed with a rare command of poetic form . . . largely Pagan in sentiment." "Clever imitations of a brilliant yet somewhat leprous style . . . gilded pastiness. " " Veils a morbidly exaggerated Catholicism under an ultra- Egyptian passion for death. . . . Aleister Crowley is a true poet." " We quote . . . There is a good deal of similar drivel further on." " Real and striking gifts both of im.igination and expression." "Mr Crowley out-Swinburne's Mr Swinburne. . . . Shows no mean technical accom- plishment." "The pupil is in some ways greater than the master (Mr Swinburne)." " Most exalted moods of mysticism . . . richness and visionary splendour of the imagery and the aptness and transfiguring power of the rhythms . . . plastic and intensely dramatic . . . this poet is authentic and will reveal to the world much new beauty. . . ." "A kind of middle-class .Swinburne at second-hand . . . morbid unpleasantness of Mr Crowley's taste." " Much to attract and not a little to repel. A very singular and striking piece of work . . . undoubted power and originality . . . vigorous mastery and daring conception . . . we are compelled to read even where the subject matter fails to attract . . . several glaring crudities and much banality." " An unusual number of gory phantoms." "A trifle ludicrous and monotonous." " A riot of words without much thought at the back of them . . . windy and boyish in over-emphasis . . . very respectable verse." " Earliest and worst manner of Keats ... no new note here. Even the epithets are conventional. ..." " Lacks utterly originality . . . echoes of Mr Swinburne, Tennyson, and sometimes of Mr Gilbert." "Sickly, sensuous vein." " Holds the first place among the latter-day poets." " The fairest promise of not only good but great work to come . . . has the prophet's vision . . . verse worthy of the greatness of his theme ... all the attributes of a true poet." "Elaborate and perverse . . . the most irresistible trait he can find in a maiden is that she should bite like a mad dog ... Mr Crowley is a strong and genuine poet."